© Dianne (Di) Bates
Not
so long ago, my award-winning children’s author husband Bill Condon and I began to meet fortnightly with
three other local children’s writers,
one being Ann
Whitehead (Dangerous
Places, Hachette Livre Australia) and the other two who are unpublished, to
workshop our writing. Each brings a major current project to the table, talk of
the problems we are experiencing, read sections of our work-in-progress, and
open the floor to comments, criticisms and suggestions from the others.
It is over a year now since I left a well-established
workshop group*; I had forgotten how helpful and inspiring it is to have the
support and insight of others, and how inspiring a workshop session can be.
Between now and our next workshop meeting in a fortnight’s time, I will be
re-working my blighted YA novel, preparing it for re-presentation to the group.
Even if you are an unpublished writer, can I suggest that you find – even
advertise – for some writing buddies? It can be extremely motivating, to say
the least, to have even one supporter, someone you can bounce ideas and writing
drafts off of.
Reading what other published authors have to say about
their methods also inspires me with my own work. One of my favourite American
writers is Lois
Lowry, twice winner of the prestigious Newbury Medal (I
especially love her book, The
Woods at the End of Autumn Street.) Below
are some answers I found this week that she gave to common writing problems: her
answers helped me with some questions I am grappling with at the moment. I hope
you find it helpful, as well.
What advice do you give to authors who
would like to develop their writing voice? What suggestions do you have for
creating self-discipline at writing?
As for "voice": I feel that you
should write a book as if you are writing a letter to a friend: telling about
something interesting, something meaningful, that has happened. It should be an
intimate and private telling, friend to friend. It should be YOU, laughing,
crying, teasing, angry, relating events, inviting your close friend to pay
attention, to empathize. That will be your voice, a recognizable one.
The question about self-discipline is a
tough one for me. I don’t think self-discipline is a problem if you are doing
work that you love and that you feel is important. I can’t imagine anyplace
that I’d rather be than right here, at my desk. I need self-discipline to make
me get up and take the dog for a walk, or to cook dinner!
How do you get beyond just an idea? How
does an idea become a story?
Some ideas don’t. Sometimes what seems
like a wonderful starting point - a wonderful idea - turns out to be no more
than an anecdote. You have to look beyond a "beginning" to see if
there is any depth to it, any reason for sitting at a desk for month after
month laboring over it, any reason for a publisher investing thousands of
dollars into it, any reason for kids to pick it up and care about it. Does it
have anything to say beyond the superficial? I think that’s the key, for me.
What do you think are the key elements
when writing a book? When you have your ideas do you write a set plan of what
will happen in the plot of the story?
I have occasionally listed the elements -
each of them leading to the next - of a successful book as 1. character; 2.
quest; 3. complications and choices; 4. catastrophe; 5. conclusion, and 6.
change.
I think most writers and teachers of
writing would probably agree that some similar list applies.
But - in my opinion - it doesn’t work to
make the list and then try to create the story to fit it. You create the story
first; later, you see how and where it fits the pattern; finally, you make the
necessary revisions which will become apparent at that point. You may find, for
example, that the catastrophic event (#4) - upon which the concluding events
(#5) should be predicated - occurs too early. Or (and this is quite common a
flaw) that the character, who should have experienced growth as a result of the
events throughout the narrative, has not really undergone a change (#6).
* This workshop, which met
fortnightly for five years, and was originally composed of six children’s
authors, folded when some of the members moved to mostly writing adult science
fiction and fantasy. There are now two groups – one writing for adults, and the
other, to which I belong, are writing for children.
Dianne (Di) Bates has published 130+ books for
children. Her most recently published titles are Nobody’s Boy (Celapene Press,
2013 CBCA Notable) and A Game of Keeps (Celapene Press, 2014), Here Comes
Trouble! (Dragon Tales Publishing) Her website is http://www.enterprisingwords.com.au
